


solutions and alternatives

by paravin



Series: last to see the light [6]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Abuse, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-17 08:54:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29590311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paravin/pseuds/paravin
Summary: Osiris would like access to Spider's repository of acquired artefacts. Crow does his best to oblige.
Relationships: The Crow & Osiris (Destiny)
Series: last to see the light [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2180733
Comments: 12
Kudos: 47





	solutions and alternatives

**Author's Note:**

> based on this dialogue from Season of the Hunt:
> 
> Osiris: How did the Spider come by these… lures?  
> Crow: I built them. Baron Spider has a repository of odds and ends.  
> Osiris: And Hive apocrypha, as I understand it. I would like access to this so-called repository.
> 
> loose follow-up to [this one](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28898451) but should also function as a standalone. all abuse warnings are Spider-related as usual.

“Why do I feel like you’re leading me into a trap?”

Crow looks almost offended at the question when he glances back over his shoulder, but it’s Glint who responds, “We’re not! Baron Spider’s lair just has that ‘trap’ aura about it sometimes. You get used to it.”

Osiris hums beneath his cowl. The invitation had been a surprise but a welcome one, offering him an hour’s access to Spider’s store of apocrypha. Strangely for the Shore, there didn’t seem to be any price associated with it, although Osiris expects a deal to be required if any of the pieces are deemed to be worth taking. 

“It isn’t a trap,” Crow says with a sigh. “Spider understands that anything you find here might help us with the hunts. Removing Xivu Arath’s presence from the Shore is still a high priority for him.”

Osiris arches an eyebrow. “So the Spider is granting me this access purely in his own self-interest?”

He can’t see Crow’s face but he can read the tension in his shoulders as he admits, “It might have taken some persuasion…”

Glint’s shell whirrs like he’s about to speak but Crow pushes on before he can, “But we’re grateful for your help last week.” His voice lowers. “And for not reporting it to Spider.”

As far as favors went, it wasn’t exactly a big one. After being worked to the point of exhaustion by his employer, Crow had fallen asleep in a moment of downtime during their training. Osiris’ entire contribution had been letting him sleep for a while, then providing what he suspected was Crow’s first good meal in weeks when he woke. 

It had hardly been enough to merit this kind of reward in return but Osiris’ hunger for knowledge is too great to turn down the opportunity.

“It’s just through here,” Crow says, gesturing to a dimly lit room off the winding corridor. “Watch your step — there are boxes everywhere.”

Glint’s light scans over the room’s contents as he says, “I don’t think there’s much in the way of a filing system.” 

“Or if there is, Spider hasn’t told me what it is,” Crow mutters. “I hope you can find something useful anyway.”

The lone bulb blinks on, the shelves casting rickety shadows across the ground, and Osiris’ eyes widen as he steps inside. 

Even without his Light, the thrum of power in the room is unmistakable. The sources are jumbled — Hive runes among Vex tech among Taken glyphs — and Osiris lets himself be drawn to the closest pulse of magic, pushing a handful of Cabal idols aside to reach an inscribed tablet at the bottom of one crate. 

With his flashlight propped on a shelf, he pulls out his notebook and begins to translate. 

“Did you find something?” Crow asks from the doorway. 

“Too early to tell,” Osiris says, distracted. “If I find anything related to the hunt for the High Celebrant, I’ll inform you.”

He takes Crow’s lack of response as acknowledgement but barely makes it halfway through the translation before Crow asks again, uncertain, “Can I help with anything?”

“It would take too long to teach you,” Osiris says, not looking up from the tablet, “especially when I have limited time here. I can brief you afterwards.”

The delay in response is a moment too long but Osiris can’t read Crow’s tone when he says quietly, “Of course. Glint and I will be right outside.”

“I can’t tell if he’s happy or not,” Glint murmurs to Crow as they move back out into the hallway. “I thought he’d be glad to have access to this place.”

“I think he is glad,” Crow whispers back. “He just-”

They move out of earshot before Osiris can hear anything further, and he puts the conversation out of his mind. He can ensure he shows adequate gratitude later, once he’s made the most of his allotted time in Spider’s repository. 

The hour passes far too quickly. While there are many items which are of no interest to him — usually jewels or valuables from unidentified empires — the sheer number of important artefacts is almost overwhelming. He wants more time with all of them, wants to use them to unlock more secrets of the Vex or delve more into the relationship between the Scorn and the Darkness, but for now, the Hive are his focus.

More than once he has to stop himself asking Sagira for her assistance or her opinion. Her absence is a constant, aching void and as a result, he can’t help but gravitate towards any items which could offer clues to the destruction of the High Celebrant, Xivu Arath or, Light willing, the Hive as a whole.

His notebook is almost full by the time he hears heavy footsteps outside. 

The shelves rattle with the force of them, dismantled Vex components clinking together, and he tries to gather every last scrap of information he can before the owner of the items calls time on his research.

“-still in there?”

The rasping voice comes from outside the door but it’s Crow who answers, “Yes, Baron.”

“Hmm.” Spider’s shadow moves away from the doorway. “Did he find anything to help rid my Shore of these pests?”

“I don’t know,” Crow admits. “He’s been looking over Hive artefacts and taking notes but he hasn’t told us anything yet.”

Spider barks out a laugh, sharp and mocking. “After you worked so hard to gain him access, he doesn’t even want you in the room with him?”

Osiris pauses. He still hasn’t deduced the full purpose of the lantern he’s holding but this new puzzle is somehow more concerning. 

If Crow responds, Osiris doesn’t hear it and he has to strain his ears to catch Spider’s next taunt, “I suppose the rumors of his wisdom were true. He clearly understands how useless you really are.”

“Crow isn’t useless!” Glint insists. “If it wasn’t for his lures, Osiris and the Guardian wouldn’t-”

“I thought I taught you to keep your ghost in line,” Spider growls. 

From the sound of the strike and the muffled cry that follows, it’s Crow who receives the reminder rather than Glint, and Osiris sets the lantern down silently.

Crow’s voice is hushed beneath the sound of Glint dematerialising. “My apologies, Baron.”

There’s a rustle from the hallway and Osiris gets to his feet as quietly as possible. It’s followed by a thump, too soft to be another blow, and a shivering intake of breath, before Spider asks, “You haven’t told him, have you?”

Crow’s silence is apparently an answer and Spider chuckles. “Oh, little bird. Does our mutual acquaintance really think I allowed him access to so many of my treasures out of the goodness of my heart?”

Inching closer to the door, Osiris hesitates. He’s confident Spider will go back to a facade of propriety if he intervenes but his sheer curiosity makes him hold position, out of sight for now.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d almost worry that you were thinking of yourself as his equal,” Spider says. “As colleagues, perhaps? Maybe even friends?”

There’s a tremor in Crow’s voice. “I wouldn’t-”

“The legendary warlock Osiris. Former Vanguard Commander. Warden of the Infinite Forest,” Spider drawls, “and you. A worthless excuse for a Lightbearer who barely does enough to earn the scraps from my table.” 

His voice drops lower as he says with an audible sneer, “Osiris certainly seems to have a low enough opinion of you, so maybe it’s you who needs the reminder, little bird. Perhaps I should get Arrha to pull the recordings. Let the warlock hear all the shameful things you offered me in exchange for this favor. Let him see how beautifully you begged.”

“Baron, please-”

Crow’s response comes out choked and as Osiris rounds the corner to interrupt them, he can see why. Spider pulls back as soon as he comes into view, stepping away from where he had Crow pressed against the wall and releasing his grip on his throat. It almost feels like intruding on a lovers' tryst, if not for the relief on Crow’s face at his intervention.

“Warlock,” Spider rumbles, unashamed. “I take it you found my archive to your satisfaction?”

Out of his throne, Spider is larger than he expected, towering to nearly the full height of the thin hallway. Osiris approaches anyway, offering a hand in greetings as he puts himself between Crow and his employer. “Baron Spider. You have an impressive collection.”

From the way Spider’s gaze darts back to Crow, the positioning wasn’t as subtle as Osiris hoped but one of his upper arms grasps Osiris’ hand anyway. “I have a good eye for valuable acquisitions.”

Ending the handshake, Osiris nods back to the repository. “I take it you wouldn’t be willing to part with any of them?”

“For a good enough price,” Spider says with a shrug. “I’m a business man, after all.”

“What did you have in mind?” Osiris asks. “I’m afraid the Vanguard resources are rather constrained at the moment.”

Spider makes a noise of understanding, huffing out a breath through his rebreather. “I’m sure we can work something out.” He looms above Osiris as he looks him over. “Did you keep the husk from that ghost of yours?”

The cruelty of the suggestion catches Osiris off-guard. A furious retort sits on his tongue and it’s only his concern for Crow behind him which keeps him from voicing it. 

Spider just laughs. “Some other time then. When the wound is less… _fresh_.” Another wheezing breath. “My door is always open for a good deal.”

With one last nod, he departs, solid footsteps thumping down the hallway, and Osiris waits until he hears the mechanical grind of the door closing upstairs before he turns back to Crow. 

His gaze catches on the mark high on Crow’s cheek, the skin darkening around the cut from where Spider hit him, and the words stick in his throat. He doesn’t know how to do this, how to make things better after what he just overheard, and not for the first time, he wishes Saint were here to help paper over his weak points. 

Before he can speak, Glint appears back at Crow’s side again, floating lower in contrition, and Crow strokes a hand over his shell as he looks up at Osiris. “Did you find anything useful in there? Anything that could help us track the High Celebrant?”

Still thrumming with anger — on Crow’s behalf as well as Sagira’s — Osiris blurts out a response before he can think, “You shouldn’t have made a deal with Spider for this.”

Crow’s mouth opens and closes, and Osiris sees the dawning horror in his eyes when he realises how much Osiris is likely to have overheard. “I- You wanted access. I just thought-”

“You thought wrong,” Osiris says firmly. “I don’t know what you offered him in exchange but whatever it was, it wasn’t worth it.”

It’s meant as a reassurance, that Crow’s safety is worth more than any amount of time with Spider’s artefacts, but from the look of devastation on Crow’s face, Osiris has missed his mark by a long way.

Crow steps back before Osiris can take another shot at it. He can almost see Crow’s shutters come down, offering up the same mask of polite obedience that he wears for Spider when he says, “Understood. I apologise for the mistake.”

“Crow…”

“I have to get back to work,” Crow says, backing off down the corridor. “I’m sorry for wasting your time, Osiris. If I run into anything new regarding the cryptoliths, I’ll let you know.”

“Crow!”

The transmat fires before the word has even left his lips and Osiris smacks his knuckles against the wall in frustration when he’s left alone in the empty hallway. 

He thinks maybe a trap would have been preferable.


End file.
